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Nazareth Breezes past Whitehall

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

| August 30, 2025

Nazareth-

The Blue Eagle offense was just too much for Whitehall to keep up with as Nazareth rolls to 2-0 on the season.

 

Blue Eagle quarterback, and Auburn Tiger commit, Payton Falzone found success early as he quickly lead his Nazareth offense down the field which he capped off with him finding Marquez Wimberly in the flat on third down from about 13 yards out after having a rushing touchdown of his own called back on a holding carll, to put Nazareth up 7-0 early in the first quarter.

The Blue Eagle defense forced quick 3 and out by the Zephyr offense and got the ball right back to their offense who went on a methodic drive down the field and found the end-zone once again.  This time it was Falzone  who kept the ball himself on a read option and found a lane around the left side of the line to put the Blue Eagles up 2 scores 14-0 with 4:48 left in the first quarter.

Moving in to the 2nd quarter, Whitehall looked to find their offensive mojo as Zephyr quarterback Tanner Dogmanits found wideout Rocco Fonzone wide open on 4th down from just outside the red-zone in the corner of the end-zone to cut the Blue Eagle lead in half, 14-7, with 10:07 left in the half.


On the ensuing drive the Nazareth offense answered right back, retaking the two score lead once again as Falzone found Wimberly in the flat and he then willed himself in to the end-zone just inside the pylon with 7:17 left in the opening half.

The Zephyrs did not go quietly in to the night however.  Late in the half Whitehall corner Talon Dogmanits picked off Peyton Falzone and returned it deep in to Nazareth territory with just over a minute remaining in the opening half.

A few plays later, with only 13 seconds remaining in the half, Tanner Dogmanits found Donato Brigidi in the endzone to pull the Zephyrs withing 2 scores just before half.

Whitehall deferred the choice to the 2nd half so the were the recipients of the 2nd half kickoff.  Dogmanits and the Zephyr offense wasted little time and on the 2nd play of the half he found nobody other than Donato Brigidi streaking down the sideline for a huge gain down to the Nazareth 5 yard-line.  Two plays later Dogmanits called his own number and with some help from his linemen and backs, got the ball across the line for the touchdown and brought the Zephyrs within a touchdown with 10:16 left in the 3rd quarter.

Nazareth struck back quickly on their next posession as Marquez Wimberly ripped of a 67 yard rush to put Nazareth inside the Zephyr red-zone.  On the next play, Falzone found Matt Leluga wide open in the end-zone to put Nazareth back up by 2 scores with just under 10 minutes left to play in the 3rd quarter.

Whitehall answered right back on their next drive as Jeziah Gregory started to find some momentum and capped off the Zephyr drive with a 2 yard burst up the middle for the score with 7:37 left in the 3rd quarter.

With the Nazareth backfield being plagued by injury in the 2nd half, 3rd string sophmore back Will Bacolo stepped in to tote the proverbial rock and tote it he did. Amassing 40 yards on the ground in 2 plays and capping off the Blue Eagle drive with a 20 yard touchdown jaunt right up the gut of the Zephyr defense for the score with 5:42 still remaining in the 3rd quarter.

The Blue Eagle defense put their talons in the Zephyr offense the next drive, forcing quick punt from the Zephyrs.  On their ensuing drive the Blue Eagle offense found paydirt once again.  This time, Falzone called his own number on the option and found room around the outside for the score.  The drive however was highlighted by a superb one-handed grab by Matt Leluga which set up the Nazareth offense in the Zephyr redzone.

The next offensive series saw the Zephyrs go 3 and out, giving the ball right back to the Blue Eagle offense.  Nazareth picked up right where they left off as Will Bacolo once again found the end-zone, this time from 6 yards out and pushing the Nazareth lead to 55-27 with just under 10 minutes remaining in the contest.

On the ensuing possession, the Zephyrs continued their fight and were once again rewarded with points as Gregory  found the end-zone for a 2nd time on the evening with just over 8 minutes left in the game.

The scoring for the game was capped off by a blistering sprint down the sideline for Marquez Wimberly from 38 yards out. With 6:57 remaining in the game it was Nazareth 62, Whitehall 33.

After the game I was able to get a few words from Nazareth’s Will Bacolo, Matt Leluga, and head football coach Tom Falzone about the victory.

With the victory, Nazareth moves to 2-0 on the season and will have some cross district action as they travel to visit the  Wilson Bulldogs in District 3 next Friday night.  The Bulldogs are 2-0 as well and fresh off a 27-7 victory over Plymouth-Whitemarsh.  With the loss, the Zephyrs are 1-1 on the season and will play host to the Cavaliers of East Stroudsburg South next week in Whitehall. The Cavaliers are 0-2 as they dropped their 2nd game of the season this week 48-19 at Northampton.

 

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